Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) said it will shut one of four furnaces at its Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) operation in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province due to the depletion of available feedstock.
At the end of June, the FTSE100 miner announced that mining and smelting operations at RBM had been halted and it was forced to declare force majeure on customer contracts due the escalating security situation at the operations. RBM is South Africa’s largest mineral sands producer.
"Shutting a furnace has a major impact on the business and broader community and it not a decision we have taken lightly,” said Rio Tinto’s chief executive Minerals, Sinead Kaufman. “However, we will not put production ahead of the safety of our people and there are still fundamental criteria that must be met before we can resume operations in a sustainable manner.”
"We continue to work with national and provincial governments as well as community structures to find a lasting solution to the current situation so that operations can resume as soon as it is possible to safely do so."
The company hopes the decision to shut one furnace will limit the long-term impacts of a shutdown on RBM's furnaces.
All operations at RBM remain halted until further notice, Rio Tinto said.
RBM will regularly reassess the situation to make further decisions on any potential restart or the shutting of the other furnaces, depending on when the safety and security position improves.
RBM is one of the largest businesses in KwaZulu-Natal, where rioting broke out earlier this month, and is the largest taxpayer in the province.